A taste of IPA or three

India Pale Ale is one of my favourite beer styles. I was therefore happy to find a new IPA acquaintance at a Vinmonopolet outlet. Scottish Joker IPA is brewed by the British Williams Brothers brewery, and of course it was given a test run.

In the glass Scottish Joker IPA is a cloudy beer. There is barely any carbonation, and it has a very small head. In the nose I feel grapefruit and some pines. In the mouth grapefruit takes the lead before a watery finish with some orange. I felt this was a boring IPA that left a lot to be desired.

Ægir Ratatosk Double IPA is named after the squirrel in the Norse god sagas. In the glass this is another cloudy beer with a coppery colour. It has some carbonation and a small head. I feel toffee, flowers, apricot and some grapefruit in the nose. The beer has a fine, full body. There are tastes of citrus, pineapple, caramel, tutti frutti bubble gium and some sugar. I also feel some alcohol touches before a partly bitter finish with some lovely hops. This is a fine beer, but I prefer Ægir's normal IPA. And after a few sips, Ratatosk also gets too sweet. Unfortunately.

Mikkeller Green Gold is a beer I have tasted as a draught beer earlier. From bottle this IPA is a cloudy beer with a medium sized head and barely any carbonation. I feel grapefruit in the nose, while the beer tastes of more grapefruit combined with some blood orange. The finish is bitter with a lot of hops. This is the best beer of these three, but it is somewhat more bitter than what I would prefer.

A porter and a stout

I found two dark beers that looked interesting the other day. One was a porter from Harviestoun brewery, while the other was a stout from the Norwegian Lervig brewery in Stavanger.


Harveistoun's porter is called Old Engine Oil. It is a black beer with a lot of carbonation at once, but then the beer calms down. It has a medium sized head, and in the nose I feel burnt, dark chocolate. The chocolate is still there in the mouth with traces of burntness. There is also some sweetness before the bittersweet finish mentioned on the label. This was a fine porter that I enjoyed.

Konrad's stout from Lervig is brewed with oatmeal. It is a strong beer with 10.4% alcohol. The beer is black with some carbonation. In the nose I feel cold coffee and leather. The beer is full bodied, and it tastes of coffee with a tiny touch of tobacco. The finish has coffee and a touch of vodka. This an even nicer beer, but one bottle was more than enough. Perhaps Konrad's stout is a beer for sharing?

Vinmonopolet's September news

Every other month the state owned alcohol outlet Vinmonopolet in Norway releases new products. This month two beers are among the offers. Ægir Harvest Ale was also available last year, but Høst Porter from BrewDog is a new beer.

The little Ægir brewery from Flåm is not able to make all their beers at the brewery site in the Fjord district. Harvest Ale is therefore brewed in Belgium at a disclosed brewery. This year's beer is a brownish and somewhat cloudy beer. It has some carbonation and a small head. There are aromas of yeast and fruit. I feel grapefruit and a touch of fruit cocktail in the mouth. The aftertaste is yeasty with a touch of bitterness. The beer is nice and has 6% alcohol. It is above average, but I felt this was a better beer last year.

BrewDog Høst Porter is a new beer. For some reason this beer from BrewDog has a Norwegian name. I guess the brewery wants to check out the Norwegian market with a beer that sounds Norwegian. The name is in English translated into Autumn Porter. The subtitle of this beer is Renaissance Baltic Porter. By the way: BrewDog should be reluctant paying their Norwegian language consultant. Høst Porter should be spelt in one word in Norwegian and not in two.

This is a nearly black beer with some carbonation and a small sized head. There is lots of cocoa in the nose. Coffee and cocoa struggle for domination in the mouth with a touch of cold coffee in the aftertaste. This is a nice porter that I will not turn down if somebody offers it to me. In shops I will prefer Sumbel porter from Ægir or Aass' Gourmet Stout if I fancy a black beer.

A surprising stout

Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout from Wye Valley brewery is now available in some Norwegian supermarkets. That is great, as the stout selection at Norwegian shops and supermarkets is usually Guinness. And that's it. If you are lucky, you can also find Aass Stout and/or Nøgne Ø's Havrestout here and there.

Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout is a black beer with a lot of carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose there is coffee and dark chocolate. The beer tastes of cold coffee, some malts and a touch of sweetness before a partly bitter finish. Delicious! This is a lovely stout that I hope will be available in more Norwegian supermarkets. If you want a stout in Norway, you do not have to buy Guinness anymore.

Special ales for Sweden

There are not only 3.5% lagers that are available in Swedish supermarket shelves. Also various ales can be found, and these exist in special lower alcohol versions only available in Sweden. The ordinary beers are found at the state owned Systembolaget outlets.

Wychwood's Hobgoblin is an English ale. In Swedish supermarkets it is found as a beer with 3.5% alcohol. There is nearly no carbonation, and the brownish beer builds a large head. In the nose there is sweetness and caramel, while the beer itself tastes sweet with fruity tones and a touch of toffee. The finish is unfortunately a bit sweeter than what I hoped, but in all Hobgoblin 3.5% is a fine ale.

Brakspear is another English brewery. In a Swedish supermarket I found Brakspear Double Dropped Bitter. This is an amber beer with as good as no head nor carbonation. In the nose there is hops and some fruit. The beer tastes apple, sweetness and some hops before a bitter finish. This is another fine ale, and it has 3.4% alcohol.

Three dark ales

I fancy a porter or a stout now and then. There are many good dark beers out there, and here is a round-up of three dark ales.

First out is Fuller's London Porter. The beer is black, and it has nearly no carbonation. It has a small head, and in the nose I feel cold coffee and some dark chocolate. In the nose the dark chocolate takes the lead with a touch of coffee. This is a fine porter.

Carnegie Porter is Swedish, and it is available in several versions. The 3.5% version is a black beer with some carbonation and hardly a head. I feel some chocolate in the nose. In the mouth there is some dark chocolate before a watery finish. This is an average beer.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout is also a black beer. There is some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose I feel coffee and chocolate and some burnt notes. In the mouth I feel chocolate and some sweetness before a partly bitter finish. This was a nice stout, but it is not among the better ones I have tried.

Another round of beers

It is a good time being a beer drinker in Norway these days. There is always a new beer to try out at Vinmonopolet, and the same goes for the shops and supermarkets. It is a pity paying Norwegian prices, though. Some beers at Vinmonopolet cost more than 100 NOK, and buying them at a bar is no cheap experience. My bottle of Kinn's Dampen mentioned below had a price tag of 150 NOK. That is nearly 17 GBP.

Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew is a beer that has received a lot of praise from beer bloggers. I was excited about the beer when I saw it in the glass with a tempting brownish colour. The beer had some carbonation and a small head. In the nose I felt coffee, cocoa and some smoke. The smoke dominated in the mouth with a touch of malt. I have been drinking some smoke beers that I have enjoyed. Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew was unfortunately no winner for me. Actually, I felt it was boring and onedimensional. The beer is strong with 11% alcohol.

Ægir Brime is a red lager, according to the label. It is a copper coloured beer with a large head and some carbonation. In the nose there is yeast and cold coffee. In the mouth I felt malts and a touch of dark chocolate, The beer is somewhat watery, and it has a semibitter finish. I liked it, and just like the label told me it was refreshing. I would prefer it with a fuller body.

I had a bottle of St. Austell Proper Job IPA right after I had finished a glass of Ægir IPA. That told me that the Ægir IPA was the better beer, but Proper Job is also a very good IPA. It has a golden colour, and there is some carbonation. The head is medium sized, but it dissolves quickly. In the nose there are hops and citrus, while the beer has a dominant feeling of lemon with a touch of apples. The finish is partly bitter with a hint of grapes.

Kinn Dampen is a steam beer from the tiny Norwegian brewery. I have unfortunately lost my tasting notes, but I liked nearly everything with this beer except for the finish. I felt the sour finish with some pines was not to my liking, but I will try it again at a later point in time.

BrewDog Nanny State is called an insanely hopped imperial mild on the label. In the glass the beer is copper coloured with a medium sized head. There is very little carbonation, and the beer has aromas of grapefruit. In the mouth Nanny State is watery. I feel some grapefruit and a touch of pepper before a bitter finish. This is not the best beer I have had from BrewDog, but I know I will drink it now and then. It has 0.5% alcohol and is thus considered alcohol free. Therefore I know which non-alcoholic beer to drink the next time. It will be Nanny State!

Beer tasting round-up

Looking through my tasting notes, I see that there are many beers I have tasted that I have not written about on this blog. Therefore this post will focus on six of those beers.

Hansa Premium is one of the most popular pale lagers from the Norwegian brewery. This is a fizzy beer that builds a large head that dissolves quickly. It has aromas of grass and wheat, where the wheat malt dominates. In the mouth it is watery with a wheaty touch before a somewhat hoppy finish. This is a nice session beer, but I would prefer it with a fuller body.

Beck's is one of Germany's best selling pale lagers. I have had it earlier both from bottle or tap, but this was the first time tasting Beck's from can. It is an inoffensive pale lager with an aroma of malts and sugar. In the mouth hints of sweetness and some malts dominate the palate before a semibitter finish with some hoppiness. This is an average pale lager that I feel is on the boring side.

The pale lager Småland from Sweden is a much more interesting beer. This is a beer that has tastes of toffee, biscuit and bread. It is a lovely lager, and I feel it is the best Swedish produced lager I have tasted.

Zeunert is also a very good Swedish pale lager. In the mouth it is a malty beer with a touch of hops before a partly bitter finish. The spirit based taste found in several Swedish starköl beers if fortunately not to be found in Zeunert.

Fuller's ESB is one of the British bitters available at Vinmonopolet in Norway. It is a very good beer with a nose of fruits, lemon and some yeast. The beer has not much carbonation and builds a medium sized head. In the mouth there is some caramel and some citrus before a finish with toffee taking the lead. Lovely!

Innis & Gunn is also British. This is a pale beer with little carbonation and a medium sized head. There is toffee in the nose, while the beer has a distinct taste of caramel and toffee. I liked this beer for a while, but then I got bored of it. A bottle is more than enough, as the taste tells me that this is no session beer.